Bengali recognised as 'classical language' in India

Bengali and four other languages have been conferred the status of classical language, the Indian government announced tonight.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

The classical language status was conferred also to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit and Assamese languages, said an official statement.

The declaration of languages as classical language will create significant employment opportunities, particularly in academic and research fields, it said.

The benefits also include national awards for classical languages, setting up of Chairs in universities and Centers for promotion of classical languages.

Modi lauded the cabinet decision."I am very happy that the great Bengali language has been conferred the status of a Classical Language, especially during the auspicious time of Durga Puja. Bengali literature has inspired countless people for years. I congratulate all the Bengali speakers all over the world on this," he posted on X.

The Indian government decided to create a new category of languages as "classical languages" on October 12, 2004 declaring Tamil as classical language. It also set a series of yardsticks for considering a language as "classical language" -- the language history should be over a thousand years, a body of ancient literature/ texts and a literary tradition which must be original and not borrowed from another speech community.

In November 2004, a linguistic experts committee was constituted by the Ministry of Culture under Sahitya Akademi to examine the proposed languages for the status of classical language and the criteria were revised in November 2005 following which Sanskrit was declared as a classical language.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee welcomed the recognition of Bangla as a classical language by the Indian government and said it marks the culmination of "our long struggle" on the issue.

"We had submitted a lot of information based on research to the federal Culture Ministry. Today, our dream has come true," Mamata said in a FB post.

Although some other Indian languages had got the classical language status earlier, Bangla had been denied the same, she said.